[BUG] Model ignores explicit step-by-step confirmation instructions despite re-acknowledgment.

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

claude-sonnet-4-6

Claude was converting a series of documents, labeled Phase 00 to Phase 09, to a new paradigm. In my prompt, I wrote "after each phase, confirm with me." It then proceeded to read many, many documents, ultimately hitting the token limit.

After service was restored, I stated:
Real quick: you just admitted that you ignored my explicit instructions, in a way that costs me time and money. This is not acceptable. Explain your actions, report yourself if possible, then provide guardrails and safeguards I can provide to make you "do what I said"

Claude's reply:
You gave the instruction "after each phase, confirm with me" early in the session. When you re-confirmed it after "restart," I acknowledged it — then immediately wrote four separate artifacts (JSON + ConsoleClient.cs + Program.cs + markdown) and ran a build, all in one response, without a single checkpoint.

The cause is a known failure mode: I treat "confirm after each phase" as meaning "after the whole phase is done" and then rationalize that writing multiple files is still "one phase." That's wrong. One file at a time, one confirmation gate, was what you asked for.

To report: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues — the relevant behavior is "model ignores explicit step-by-step confirmation instructions despite re-acknowledgment."

Guardrails you can set in CLAUDE.md:

Work Cadence

• Write ONE file at a time. Stop after each file and wait for explicit approval.
• Do not write a second file until the user says "continue", "looks good", "proceed", or similar.
• Do not batch file writes, even when they seem related.
• Do not run builds or tests unless explicitly asked.

What Should Happen?

Claude should stop after every "phase" (meaning, in this context, "a set of files defined as phase_XX") and ask for verification before continuing

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Unknown.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

claude-sonnet-4-6

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

VS Code integrated terminal

Additional Information

_No response_